Category: Good Feels
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I’m not sure if I mentioned it at all, but I got married in July. Ha … kidding, I know it’s been all over my social media feeds for the better part of the last year and is pretty much the reason I’ve been a little MIA on this blog. And to be more accurate, I got married TWICE. Wedding number one was at a country inn near our cottage. Check out some pics if you like :). Wedding number two was in Vegas! Being married is cool, and to answer everyone’s question – feels EXACTLY the same. Kinda what we expected after twelve years.

Wedding planning consumed so so so much of my time (throw in a few more SOs to make it truly realistic) and now we’re looking forward to getting our regular life back. I know that Brad would really like to get our life organized. We have banking and budgeting to do plus we need a major overhaul on our home office and each of our businesses need a tune up. But what I want to do is use all the time on new and used adventures.

One new adventure that I was dreaming of was running a full marathon this fall. My schedule got far too crunched, I’m still going through testing and treatment of that pesky lung issue, and my chiropractor + physiotherapist recommended that I maybe put that one on hold. Instead I’ll be pulling up a used adventure – the half marathon at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront race this fall. With last year’s back injury I didn’t get to give that half marathon a full effort in 2015. This year I’ll be looking for redemption and hoping to shave many minutes off of my time. A new addition to my half marathon is that Brad will be racing the same distance. We’re still playing around with our schedules and training. It’s pretty tough working two jobs and fitting in runs. We’ve done late night and early morning both due to my schedule and because of the intense humidity in Toronto these days.

We also hit up our favourite running trail near the cottage last weekend to get in a 5km run in the rain. I had almost forgotten what it was like to truly have to dedicate yourself to a training plan. Since we’re only running three days a week there’s really no room for missing runs. We had some friends up to the cottage with us and luckily they were up for some new adventures in trails. On Saturday we did a very hilly hike through some beautiful wooded areas.

On Sunday we did a very short but very spooky hike. We nicknamed it murder trail before we even got there and the spookiness did not disappoint. Just to enter the trail we had to go through what looked like a Blair Witch tree entry way. Also we may have left it a little too late in the day and were trying to beat the sunset. Oh and one more also, I was freaking out about bears. We saw a bunch of (according to Brad) majestic deer. Not sure what makes them majestic but there they were just metres from the trail. Definitely adventurous.

Aside from that I’m trying to catch up with all my friends and family who I’ve barely seen due to all the wedding planning.

I’d love to hear about your summer adventures . . .

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had more peace and calmness in your life? There are times when I feel like Sundays are such a pain in my behind – groceries, cleaning, laundry, food prep and packing lunches. It can feel exhausting. OR … I could reframe the way I think about these activities. Taking time on Sundays to reset and prepare for the week ahead is so good for my brain and my soul. It allows me to find peace within my very chaotic life.

Sometimes something as little as waking up on Monday and not having to pack my lunch makes my entire day better. It means less rushing in the morning. It means I get something healthy to eat for lunch. It means I save money when I don’t have to buy my lunch. What if being happier, more peaceful and more energetic wasn’t about some radical shift in your life? What if it was about reframing how you feel about doing what’s most important for your self care?

Reframing my thoughts allows me to feel like the time spent on prepping for my week is actually a blessing instead of a chore.

Take some time and think about what you need to do daily and weekly to feel your best. Maybe it’s spending time with family or friends. Maybe it’s taking naps or drinking tea or watching Netflix. Maybe it’s spending time in prayer or meditation. Maybe it’s doing groceries and food prep. And of course I do hope it includes moving your body.

Happy International Women’s Day! I feel blessed every day to be a female entrepreneur and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than to share some inspiring team members that I have. As you know, at Wildly Fit I work with a few other brands that I trust and love to help the Wildly Fit family. I am always delighted to share education and inspiration and bring the best products and services that will make this community live your most energetic and peaceful life through health and fitness.

These are some amazing women that I get to work with through Wildly Fit and it has been awesome getting to partner with them to spread the health and fitness love around Toronto, Canada and of course the internet.

Jackie Sumners – Instructor at Fit Chicks, High Park

Jackie hired me at Fit Chicks and helped to mentor me through my introduction to Group Fitness. I was pretty nervous when I started, especially since I was used to training in a one on one setting. Jackie gave me so much advice and was my biggest cheer leader.

*Are you a trainer and interested in working for Fit Chicks? They’re hiring in a handful of Ontario locations, send me an email morgan@fitchicks.ca

Kate Mathews – PiYo Coach, Holistic Nutritionist & Culinary Expert

Once upon a time Kate gave me a nutrition consultation and ignited an interest in healthy eating. That was the catalyst for my old blog, Life After Bagels. Kate is not only a female entrepreneur but her business is specifically focused around helping women. She is definitely worthu of celebration on this special day! I’m delighted to have her join me as a PiYo Coach.

Ann Le – PiYo Coach

Ann and I bonded over our love of the UFC, not traditionally a fav for most women. I always love a woman who can be a girly girl (she can do a mean smokey eye) and also likes to get tough and sweaty with a workout. Now how about a standing ovation for this Ann’s completion of the Insanity workout program. Now she’s taking on PiYo and I can’t wait for her to start teaching others about what she knows about fitness. She’s a great role model and I know she’s going to make a fantastic coach.

*Are you a health and fitness enthusiast who’s thought of a job helping others with their health journey? Or a professional looking to take on a new role? I’d love to chat with you about working with Wildly Fit and my partnership with Beachbody. Email me wildlyfitinfo@gmail.com

I always have mixed feelings about making resolutions for a new year. For some people they work. But for others, they become big huge monkeys on our back that create a lot of pressure and make us feel like failures. We can call them goals or other fancy language but this year I’m trying something new. This year I’m choosing one word. Just a simple word that is going to guide the way I want to FEEL this year.

Space

I want space to think and breath and explore and have fun.

I want space in my schedule to be spontaneous.

I want space in my life for the truly important people.

I want a space, my home, that makes me feel at peace.

I want my work space to inspire and ignite my passion for serving others.

I want space in my brain to allow for creativity.

I want to put space and distance between people and things that don’t serve me.

I want Wildly Fit to be a space where we feel out most energetic and peaceful selves.

I don’t have all the WHATs and HOWs figured out for this year. But I trust that if I focus on this one word, space, that I’ll figure it out along the way.

Do you have a word, resolution, goal, focus? I’d love to hear about what fresh new feelings, ideas and journeys you’re going on in 2015.

***Today is the last day to place orders for my January 5th PiYo online training program. If you want more info comment below that you’re interested and I’ll email you ASAP. I’d love to have you join me for this 8 week program that includes fitness and nutrition support as well as coaching and motivation from me!***

If you’ve participated any exercise or training program you know that rest days are vitally important. Rest days in an exercise program allow your muscles and joints to recover, help to avoid exhaustion, and prevent injuries. If you look at any training schedule for a race you’ll see all of those rest days jotted into the calendar. But how often do you take mental rest days?

Just like your body needs a break from the wear and tear of exercise, your brain needs a break from the rigorous process that is simply your every day life. Because let’s face it, your brain gets tired too.

There’s a trend going around right now about working super hard day and night to achieve your goals and dreams. I too am running many hours of the day to keep all of my balls going, one of which is my beloved Wildly Fit. I’ve seen Instagram and Pinterest graphics that tell us to wake up before everyone else, because that’s how you’re going to win at life. There are podcasts telling us to forget that trashy TV and go out and do more with our day. But sometimes, I realize, I need to do less and I bet that’s the case for many of you as well.

When you are always jamming too much into every day, week, and month you have no time to enjoy your successes or your work process. You’re definitely more likely to get sick. Research also shows that fatigued people make poorer decisions. So when you’re running around trying to achieve your best self, you may actually be making things worse by over doing it.

I am so over the pride of being busy. Yes, I’m still working on doing less, but at least it’s my goal now. My goal is to spend more time going to the market, exploring neighbourhoods in my city, watching movies with Brad, trying new recipes that have nothing to do with my work, reading novels and having long long coffee dates with friends.

Plan a mental rest day. A day of nothing, no appointments, scheduled calls, no chores, no work, nothing that starts with “I have to”.

No matter how infrequent or how short your meditation and mindfulness practice is, you will always experience some benefit. Meditation is going to be your single best tool for managing stress and navigating this crazy world we live in. I don’t need to tell you all of the research that supports how awesome meditation is. Just try it, what have you got to lose?

Here are four awesome and FREE meditation resources to try:

Heather Waxman

I follow Heather on all of her social media channels and her energy is refreshing and inspiring. I’ve bought her Soul Sessions album on iTunes (and I cannot speak highly enough of it) but you can visit Heather’s Sound Cloud page for a handful of free meditations. Many of her meditations include a combination of singing and spoken meditation.

On The Mind

There are a handful of YouTube videos of guided mindfulness meditation in different durations on this site. However one of the best features is that you can plug in to real time guided meditation every evening from Monday to Thursday. One of my meditation teachers, Dr Paul Ritvo is one of the guides.

Calm.com

First of all can we just take a moment to applaud the name of this. Me likey! My coworker Chris turned me onto this website. It’s perfect for taking a few minutes in the office (or anywhere) to recharge and find some peace. My favourite thing is that you can download their app for iPhone or Android so you’ve got meditation in your pocket whenever you need it.

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

Just like some of the other sites the UCLA guides have different time meditation times to choose from. The best thing about this website is their body scan for sleep meditation. It’s perfect to release tension from your body before you fall asleep (or it may make you fall asleep).

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Behold, here I am at my 20th birthday party. Yup a lot has changed in the last 10 years. Like that blonde hunk of bangs. And the fact that we don’t use film cameras anymore.

And although I still love some good wine and beer, I also celebrated my birthday with a new fitness milestone.

I wanted this post to be 30 things I learned about health before I turned 30. Here’s the problem, I couldn’t think of 30 things. Guess I still have some learning to do. THAT … or my memory is fading in my old age. Either way, here’s the list:

Drink water, so much water. More water than you think you need. It gives me more energy and make my face look younger than maybe any other tip here.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a drink or two. You don’t have to give up booze to have a fit lifestyle or body. Seriously, it’s not the end of the world to have a few drinks here and there. But do not drink a beer or glass of wine every single night.

No matter how skinny or fit I am, people will still make mean comments. I am eternally on defence about my body. Good thing it’s MY body.

Eating pizza makes me a better person.

There is not and never will be one ultimate best diet plan. I loved being vegetarian. But I also love not being vegetarian. Turns out I like food and having energy and every day I make it my priority to please both goals.

Pace is for the ego.

If you run, you are a runner. Period.

Stretch every single day. Flexibility, or as I like to refer to it as range of motion, is so vitally important to getting through life’s aches and pains.

It’s okay to trust the experts. Find doctors that share or at least respect your view on health and wellness. But do not abstain completely from professional health care providers.

Find a partner that honours your food and fitness choices. Honour their choices as well. Make physical AND mental health a priority in your household.

RIP fast metabolism. We had some good times.

Green smoothies. Errrrrrryyyyday.

People love talking about diet plans and exercising. People love asking for advice. People rarely take the advice, don’t take it personally.

Make things simple. The more simple the easier it is to follow. Exercising, meal plans, training schedules, cooking, weight loss plans … none of it needs to be complex.

I never knew how hard weight loss was until I gained 25 lbs.

Being debt free may be the absolute biggest stress reliever in the world. Working towards or maintaining a healthy financial place is good for your mental wellness. The healthier the mind, the healthier the body.

Ice. If you have physical pain somewhere go to ice, not pain killers. Protect your insides and avoid chemicals when possible.

Morning workouts make me feel like I can take over the world. And I am, so watch out ;).

There is no better detox than starting the day with hot water and lemon.

Do what you need to do for healthy digestion. I refrain from talking about poop on this site (so far) but seriously, how your insides process your fuel is extremely important. If something seems not right in that belly make sure to get it sorted out. This often requires patience. Be patient. It’s worth it.

Meditation is as good as everyone says it is. There are so many different ways to meditate just find a way that makes sense and feels good to you. It can be as simple as focused breathing or following a guided meditation audio recording.

Balance is a stupid word. Make health decisions that make you feel energetic. Let that guide you. Sometimes that means eating the cleanest meal plan out there, and sometimes it means eating food that is good for the soul, like mac and cheese.

Wear Sunscreen.

Maybe by 40 I’ll be able to accumulate enough tips equal to my age. Until then …

Any health tips you’ve dished out or want to share now from a recent birthday milestone?

I love people who just glow positivity. That isn’t necessarily me, I’m prone to sarcasm at times. And although I’d love to be much more bright and shiny, it’s not always easy to make personality changes when you’re an adult (is it). Not every change in life needs to be a complete overhaul. Sometimes all you need are little cues to help set you up for success. Here are three things that automatically change my mood if I’m feeling down:

Give someone a genuine compliment

Focusing on my own feelings when I’m in a crowd is really hard. Especially if it’s loud, or someone was just rude to me, or the general situation has me feeling anxious. If that’s the case for you as well, take the attention off of your feelings and put the focus on someone else. It can, of course, be as simple as a compliment on someone’s outfit. If they’re telling a story about something you can remark on what a great story teller they are, how funny that joke was, or tell them that their actions in the story were very kind. When you compliment someone in a genuine way they get a little spark in their eye and it can light a spark in yours as well.

Smile

Yes I know, an easy one. Try being sad or mad or anxious when you’ve got a big grin on your face. You’ll look creepy so don’t do it! I find that when I turn my frown upside down that it actually makes me chuckle a little (especially if your say it in your head, so cheesy). Don’t roll your eyes at me, just try it!

Say the word positive

There’s kind of only one meaning to this word, or at least one that you’ll associate with it. Quietly to yourself, or in your head repeat the word over and over again until you start feeling it. I’m all about the fake it til you make it mentality. If you keep repeating the word to yourself you are bound to start seeing your current situation a bit rosier.

Not everything in life has to be so complicated! Now tell me, what are your quick tricks to turn around a bad mood or feeling?

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As you know, I am really into the emotional benefits of gardening. Yesterday I got to visit the Black Creek Farm in Toronto for a tour and some good ol farm work.

At my day job we were doing our team building and training day for the entire department. It happens once a year and recently we changed our team building activity to a community service learning experience. I brought my camera along and vlogged some of the cool things we got to do.

One of the groups on the farm harvested vegetables, another built a huge compost pile and my group got to tend to their shiitake mushroom crop. (Do you call it a crop when it’s mushrooms?)

Here’s what we did:

harvested any mushrooms that had grown to size

took the logs out of a large bin of water that had been soaking

slammed the ends of the logs on the ground multiple times to shock them

rotated new logs into the water to soak

To grow mushrooms in this climate we were told that the farm has to try to make the growing environment similar to a rain forest.

We had such an awesome time at the farm and I highly recommend community service learning for any team building activities you might be planning for your workplace. If you’re in the Toronto area check out the Black Creek Farm to find out more about their farm, food, and community programming.